One of my favorite movies is The Tailor of Panama, based on the tongue-in-cheek novel written by John Le Carre which was in turn derived from Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana. In the film, Pierce Brosnan was featured as a corrupt British intelligence officer who fraudulently convinced the CIA to fund a secret army that did not actually exist. When one of the CIA officers complained that he had never heard of the group, Brosnan replied "Of course not. It’s a SECRET army." He got his money.

The story is appropriate because if you want to fool someone the establishment of a false narrative is essential. False narrative has been around for a long time, at least since the time of Herodotus, though the first Greek historian at least had the integrity to sometimes suggest that the tales that he was relating might not be completely truthful. Such candor is rarely found today. Post-9/11 Americans have wallowed in their own false narrative while producing devastation in many parts of the world, referring antiseptically to COIN doctrine and overseas contingency operations instead of state-sponsored terrorism and assassination teams, which is what the euphemisms really mean.

A recent example of a magnificently false and malicious narrative appeared in Time magazine, which featured a cover photo of an Afghan woman with her nose cut off. The magazine suggested that the United States has to remain in Afghanistan to prevent similar mutilations, a concept that is both breathtaking in its irrelevance and suggestive of borderline imbecility on the part of the magazine’s readers. Time‘s tale is a throwback to the days of the British Empire, the white man’s burden, a bizarre narrative in which America’s bold warriors are sacrificing their lives to protect the weak and helpless across the Khyber Pass and along the Northwest Frontier. Would that it were so, but devastated wedding parties targeted by drone pilots sitting in air-conditioned comfort in Nevada tell a different story.

The false narrative we are hearing in America today is that constant war is both necessary and manageable not to mention a safeguard of the US Constitution and our way of life. The Founding Fathers would not agree and would be horrified if they returned to America today. They saw clearly that foreign entanglements would bring about the death of the Republic and granted only to Congress the power to declare war. In spite of that, however, the United States has sent its soldiers into combat situations more than seventy times since the defeat of Japan in 1945, all without a declaration of war by Congress, and the president has acquired pretty much a free hand to initiate military action.

And the imperial agenda, relying on a completely false narrative, has had a major impact on both the size and intrusiveness of the federal government, which many Americans are beginning to rightly fear. No one should doubt that ill-conceived security measures and the deliberate exaggeration of the threat of terrorism have driven much of both foreign and domestic policy since 9/11. Many Americans want smaller and cheaper government, less interference from Washington in their daily lives, and fewer programs that are intended to socially re-engineer the nation. But many of the very same people fail to connect the dots because they also want a strong, assertive national defense and are supporters of an aggressive foreign and security policy because they have been lied to by our leaders and the media regarding the actual dangers that confront them. A recent opinion poll reveals that two thirds of Americans want to attack Iran because they wrongly believe that it already has a nuclear weapon, triggering a war that would likely have unimaginable consequences, not least of which would be gas at $10 a gallon and a wrecked economy.

It is precisely the interventionist defense and foreign policies that are driving the bad things most Americans see in government. It is easy to forget that when Bill Clinton left office in 2000 there was a budget surplus. Ballooning defense and security spending since that time, all accomplished without raising taxes, has been the engine of growth for a suffocating $13 trillion national debt, a total that increases by $4 billion every day. The United States now accounts for 45% of the entire world total for military spending, euphemistically referred to as "defense." The Pentagon budget has gone from $432 billion in 2001 to a projected $720 billion in 2011, not including the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Federal Government is twice as big as it was in 2001 and there has been the creation of major new bureaucracies at the Department of Homeland Security and the office of the Director of National Intelligence, neither of which can be regarded as a model of efficiency.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 in circumstances somewhat similar to the current American financial slide, a Russian politician joked that his country was somewhat like Upper Volta with nuclear armed ballistic missiles. At the time Upper Volta was the poorest country in the world and his point was that having the world’s greatest missile force did not make up for having a wrecked economy. For the United States to continue its imperialist foreign policy, and there is every sign that it intends to do so, will eventually lead to economic and social collapse.

The first thing that must be done to fix the government in Washington is for the United States to end its wars overseas and dramatically scale back on its international commitments. There is no good reason for Washington to serve as the world’s policeman (or bully) and many good reasons why it should cease and desist from doing so. Reason number one should be that the muscular foreign policy has actually been helping those who seek to harm the United States. In October 2004 Osama bin Laden referred to the damage, saying "We are continuing in the same policy to make America bleed profusely to the point of bankruptcy." The numbers alone demonstrate that bin Laden has succeeded, far beyond his wildest imaginings. Iraq alone has cost $1 trillion and counting, 4400 Americans have died together with as many as 650,000 Iraqis. Afghanistan and Iraq continue to run a tab at $12 billion per month, with 1,200 more American dead in Afghanistan, and global war is expanding, not contracting, as the Obama Administration contemplates increased direct involvement in Yemen, Pakistan, and the Horn of Africa. Americans are overall less safe, not more.

US policies also propagate terrorism in the form of blowback. Every diplomat or intelligence officer understands that when a man attempts to detonate an SUV in Times Square or ignite explosives in his underwear on board an airliner it is because the US is bombing and killing in places like Yemen and Pakistan. So why doesn’t the White House get it? Stop one and you stop the other. Ron Paul recently wrote "No matter our intentions, the violence of our militarism in foreign lands causes those residents to seek revenge if innocents are killed. One does not have to be Muslim to react this way, just human."

Americans should be skeptical about anything being promoted by the government or the mainstream media. They should challenge every dollar being demanded by the Defense Department, the intelligence agencies, and by the Department of Homeland Security. Put an end to the American empire and its symbiotic military industrial complex and you can stop writing a blank check every year for the Pentagon, you can stop borrowing money to fund the wars, and you can take sensible steps to reduce the size of government. As the memory of the overhyped terrorist threat fades, you might even begin to restore some of those civil liberties that have been stripped away by the Patriot Acts, the Military Commissions Act, and the assertion of state secrets privilege.

America needs first of all to stop thinking of war like it is some kind of romantic novel or Hollywood production. Glamorizing and glorifying the young men and women fighting the desperate natives in the Hindu Kush will only result in many more dead and national bankruptcy. It is time to tell a different tale. If there is to be any healing, Americans must acknowledge that it has been the brutal and disastrous foreign and security policies that have driven virtually everything that ails the United States today.

Mr. Giraldi, it was nice of you to take a break from your usual obsessive focus on Israel and look more broadly at America's history of foreign commitments in general.

It was a fairly sane piece until the end:

"it has been the brutal and disastrous foreign and security policies that have driven virtually everything that ails the United States today"

Virtually everything? Sir, your area of expertise is national security, so it's predictable that you'd view all issues through that prism. But there's plenty that ails America which doesn't have anything to do with foreign policy: Wall Street greed, corporate corruption, crime, illegal immigration, cultural deterioration, political partisanship, media dishonesty, health care woes, poor education system, radicals in higher academia, child obesity, etc. So, who's the one guilty of fear-mongering?

Phil Giraldi

Good point Augustus. My focus on foreign and security policy means I tend to look at everything that way. You are quite right that the US has many problems that have nothing to do with foreign entanglements.

where you whine about "stealth Jihad" and praise a bigoted and fanatic Geller, I wouldn't go around throwing accusations of "fear mongering" if I were you.

Your ideological zealotry is showing.

Augustus

I praised Geller partly because she's terribly demonized here, by columnists like Justin Raimondo who called her a "lunatic" and by posters like yourself. I see Geller as a firebrand who's standing up for people who don't have a voice, not as a bigot who's trying to bring harm to Muslims. Besides, what's wrong with objecting to an intolerant belief system like Islam? What's wrong with being bigoted against bigotry?

Much of Geller's time is spent calling attention to the plight of young Muslim girls who are in danger of being murdered in honor killings by the men in their family. She's done far more to help Muslims than hurt them. The true haters are the ones who slander people like her without considering that she's doing a public service. She and her acolytes are hardly "brownshirts", as some hysterical people here believe. She TARGETS the brownshirts.

mother of invention

"…Geller's time is spent calling attention to the plight of young Muslim girls…"

is geller calling attention to the young muslim girls in gaza… you know, the ones who were killed and maimed by israeli white phosphorous?

Speaking of slandering, you should go back to school and learn about the meaning of hasty generalization. It is true that there are some and probably many members of Islam who are intolerant, but to say that Islam is intolerant is a logical fallacy, And who stands for Palestinians? Do they have a voice in the media? Poor Geller who is so demonized here. For Palestinians and others, including the girl you are talking about, being demonized mean being maimed and assassinated on a daily basis. So if you are going to write about victimization,tel, the whole story.

Augustus

"to say that Islam is intolerant is a logical fallacy"

Not if one considers the Koran, which is full of passages promoting an intolerant ideology. It's true that there are some passages which contradict the intolerant ones, but there IS truth in saying that Islam is intolerant to the extent that its scripture (not to mention its history and many of its current adherents) does much to promote that notion.

Avi of Mondoweiss

As does the Bible and the Torah.

Clearly selective reading is at play among the bigoted Islamophobes, including yourself.

Augustus

When someone points out disturbing passages in the Koran, while ALSO conceding that there are passages which contradict them, that's not an example of "selective reading."

When someone fueled by raw hatred IGNORES that very concession and PRETENDS that the person he's addressing is guilty of selective reading when he's clearly not, then it's the hater (i.e. YOU) who's guilty of selective reading.

The irony around here is absolutely endless. Day after day, there's a deluge of accusations of "bigotry" by people who are palpably bigoted themselves, such as yourself.

What's wrong, can't bring yourself to admit that exhortations to violence abound in the Koran? Can't admit that it's those same exhortations which are infintely more relevant to our present day than any parallels in the Bible? Facts are stubborn things.

Avi of Mondoweiss

Augustus,

Seeing as you're so concerned with women's rights, why aren't you calling on Geller to speak of Israel's booming human trafficking and sex trafficking trade?

Alas, that kind of campaign would go against your political agenda, wouldn't it?

Speaking of "stealth" perhaps you'd like to tell us why AIPAC's own leadership has repeatedly stated that operating in the shadows is best for its interests?

Now that's Stealth Zionism. Talk about psychological projection.

You see, that shtick you use may work on the average CNN/Fox watching American, but as an Israeli, I learned from a very young age how that feigned sympathy trick works — It's the bread and butter of government propaganda. So, you're not fooling me and I'm glad many in the US aren't fooled by those stale tactics.

Augustus

AIPAC operating in the "shadows"? It's one of the most visible lobbying groups around!

As for "stealth jihad", it's all too real, sadly, and you should educate yourself. Try reading some Robert Spencer when you get the chance.

Avi of Mondoweiss

If AIPAC were visible, members of the US Congress would have long been chased out of office by their own constituents for having put the interests of a foreign nation ahead of those of the United States of America. The voting patterns in both chambers on several issues regarding Iran, the Goldstone Report, and domestic policy (see the terrorist funding Hebron Fund) clearly show the opposite of what you allege.

As for that silent Jihad nonsense you keep peddling, I haven't the time nor the need to read the vitriolic screeds of a neo-Nazi.

It's quite telling that Zionists and some self-styled liberal Jews are behind the anti-Muslim trend in the west.

One day it's going to come biting you in the tuches and you're going to squeal "anti-Semitism" — yet again — like a spoiled child. I doubt anyone would care, let alone listen. What goes around, comes around.

Augustus

"the vitriolic screeds of a neo-Nazi"

Spencer, a Nazi? Ridiculous. Facts are stubborn things, and when you don't like them, you target the messenger. You have a childish penchant for smearing people you disagree with. And now, issuing threats. Or should I say, a well-intentioned warning out of genuine concern for my welfare…

anon 1

geller is a lunatic.

bogi666

Finally, some pundits are realizing that it is the Treasury bond proceeds, doled out to the CORPORATE WELFARE KINGS, that fund the deficit is also which funds the Pentagon/spy agencies.1980 400 lobbyist in DC, today 45,000 all creating and chasing the deficit proceeds. It was Reagan who initiated the huge deficits and simultaneously increased the Pentagon/spy agencies spending. The purpose of the Pentagon is to protect the assets worldwide of the CORPORATE WELFARE KINGS, many of which locate outside the US AND PAY no US taxes but derive the benefits of protection by the Pentagon.

bogi666

Watching the movie "1984" again recently I noticed how much it has been adopted by the USG and its propaganda arm the MSM. Here's the chant used by all administrations but especially shrill since 9/11, most recently by President ObambyaBush. "To provide security and safety for the USA, the USG must make the world safe and secure". Of course, 9/11 in invoked as the rational. This chant is repeated over and over. What does it mean? It means security and safety for the CORPORATE WELFARE KINGS AND THEIR WORLD WIDE INVESTMENTS, it does not apply to the American people but is worded to imply so because of the USG were to tell their taxes are for the purpose of protecting predatory capitalism the taxpayers may object. FOLLOW THE MONEY

In a past article you indicated that Israel might likely bomb Iran prior to the US handing Iraqi air space back to the Iraqi government. We've recently heard comments in the media that in order to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions, Israel or the US would have to bomb the facilities prior to Russia delivering the nuclear fuel, which according to him is happening in the next few days.

Are you concerned that Israel might act over the next few days? What are the odds?

Also, have you ever written anything on what Iran's response would be?

Thank you very much.

Luis Almeida

liveload

70 overt interventions. Now add the covert actions to that list. Our history is a litany of imperialism and hedgemony supported by policies of terrorism, murder, extortion, kidnapping, genocide, torture, savage repression, and war. It's depressing some days, infuriating on others. Other days I think that we'd all be better off if the native americans had swarmed and butchered columbus as soon as he landed.

theothercanada

Very true about columbus. The only way Police State and Evil Empire (aka USA) will cease to exist is for it to meet same fate as the previous Evil Empire (aka USSR).

David Smith

Regarding the mistreatment of women under Islam, I think this has more to do with isolated and deeply traditional societies than to Islam in particular. Such things as honor killings occur in other places, such as India, which is mainly Hindu, not Muslim. I have spent considerable time in recent years in a country that is more than 99% Muslim (Turkey), and I have never been treated with anything less than civilized respect, nor have I seen women with their noses cut off. I'm sure that things might be different in more rural areas, especially in the east, but the Turks I have met are certainly not bigots. I see a lot more bigotry right here in the good old USA.

CIA report into shoring up Afghan war support in Western Europe, 11 Mar 2010

This classified CIA analysis from March outlines possible PR strategies to shore up public support in Germany and France for a continued war in Afghanistan. After the Dutch government fell on the issue of Dutch troops in Afghanistan last month, the CIA became worried that similar events could happen in the countries that post the third and fourth largest troop contingents to the ISAF mission. The proposed PR strategies focus on pressure points that have been identified within these countries. For France it is the sympathy of the public for Afghan refugees and women. For Germany it is the fear of the consequences of defeat (drugs, more refugees, terrorism) as well as for Germany's standing in NATO. The memo is a recipe for the targeted manipulation of public opinion in two NATO ally countries, written by the CIA. It is classified as Confidential/No Foreign Nationals.

peacenik

I doubt that even if the US suffered a humiliating defeat in AfPac and Iraq as it did in Vietnam the American flag waiving public would come to it's senses.

Johnny in Wi.

I believe the attack on Iran is imminent. Obama needs a war to pull his fat out of the fire. Anytime a demagogue is in a political fix here likes change the subject by starting a war. All the signs point to an attack soon. It will probably be done by Israel with the Americans providing cover. The attack on the Turkish flotilla was just a rehersal to see what they could get away with. The Democrats need Zionist money for the fall campaign. The Republicans are giving the Israeli's a blank check. The attack on Iran is the only way for the Democrats to get the money they need. the Israeli's are playing both sides against each other.

Chris Dowd

Admirable and impressive. Well done.

James Robinson

Great article Dr. G. "Times" cover is indeed disturbing more for the reasons you mention rather than the raw reaction to the disfigurement. As a counter let me suggest this…

Construct in your imagination the picture of a pyramid whose square base measures about 145 feet by 145 feet towering 120 feet high, the height of a ten story building. Atop the pyramid, at its apex, is a stodgy looking woman with a hunched forward head wearing a sardonic smile. Her arms are stretched outward and upward. The fingers of her hands form the ‘V’ sign; resembling the famous photo of Richard Nixon. The woman is Madelyn Albright, Clinton’s Ambassador to the U.N. and Secretary of State. Zoom out a bit. To your horror, you discover the pyramid is formed from the bodies of five hundred thousand dead Iraqis children whose deaths were a direct consequence of US intervention in the Middle East….a much more disturbing image than that which graces the cover of Time magazine, and a much more powerful argument for the termination of our deadly presence.

James, you are spot on except, as you already know, Albrights comments and past "service" to the empire, are never held accountable. Why is that? Because the very media mavens who craft public propaganda today were in operation back then. Nothing has changed.